Four dead and abandoned babies were given names and dignified burials Tuesday — instead of being placed in a pauper’s grave.

In the last 11 years, the children’s advocacy group Abuse Hurts has buried 11 such babies and the group insists mothers in dire straits need options to prevent more infant deaths.

Tiny white coffins were carried by a police hour guard on Tuesday and white doves were released at the grave site at the Elgin Mills Cemetery in Richmond Hill. The babies were buried with the names Hope, Grace, London and Zenora.

The remains of three of those infants, who came from the same mother, were discovered in containers in London, Ont. The fourth baby died at a Toronto hospital on Christmas Day.

Others have been found in rural woods or under floorboards. Abuse Hurts says babies don’t have to die this way.

“For us, the earliest stage of abuse is to throw out a newborn baby that is alive,” said Ellen Campbell, founder of Abuse Hurst.

“We have been fighting, trying for the last 11 years without success for the provincial government to pass simple legislation so a mother can take her baby to a hospital (and abandon it) without fear of being identified or charged.”

In the United States, there are safe haven laws which permit mothers to anonymously drop unwanted babies off at hospitals or firehalls without fear of any charges.

“It’s “heartbreaking” when a child or newborn is abandoned, but there are other options, said Genevieve Ogar, spokesman for the Ministry of Children and Youth Services.

“For families who are unable or unwilling to care for a child, parents in Ontario have options that do not involve police interaction. They may make arrangements with a children’s aid society to temporarily care for the child, or to arrange for the child to be adopted,” Oger said.

Many women who abandon their infants are desperate, poor and may have mental health issues, added John Muise, director of public safety for Abuse Hurts.

“(Current provincial legislation) doesn’t accommodate a woman who will drop her baby in a dumpster, a lake or a street corner,” Muise said.

“Having baby boxes at hospitals would cost (the province) less than the rebates for rich (electric) car owners. It all comes down to priorities.”

Abuse Hurts works with the Ontario coroner’s office to bury children who are unclaimed.

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